What about the 1965 treaty?

To clarify the current Japan-South Korea feud, there’s one question I want to ask.

Isn’t it true that, under the treaty signed in 1965, Japan paid $500 million (today’s rate: $4.025 billion) to South Korea, part of which had to be appropriated as compensation for the victims of Japan’s colonial rule? But the South Korean government used most of the aid money (damages) for the improvement of social and economic infrastructure, thus triggering the country’s booming economic development as we see today.

If I am mistaken, please correct me.

YOSHIO SHIMOJI

NAHA, OKINAWA PREFECTURE

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.